Take two? Top ten moments from Rick Perry’s last presidential campaign

Rick Perry’s meteoric rise to 2012 presidential frontrunner and spectacular five-month fall is the stuff of Texas political legend.

With Perry’s announcement today that he won’t seek re-election — and is thinking and praying about his future plans, including a second run for the White House — we’d like to share with you ten of the most important moments in the Texas governor’s first presidential campaign. These pivot points are listed in chronological order.

1. Instant frontrunner. (Aug. 13, 2011)

Perry becomes the instant frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination when he announces his candidacy on Aug. 13, overshadowing Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s narrow victory over Texas Rep. Ron Paul in a straw poll in Ames, Iowa. Perry’s entry comes just six days after he received extensive national coverage for hosting a prayer rally at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

2. First sign of trouble (Aug. 15, 2011)

The Texas governor’s proclivity for self-destructive campaign statements was on display at an event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when he referred to the monetary policies of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as “almost treasonous, in my opinion.” Perry’s suggestion that Bernanke might get roughed up should he ever show up in Texas drew a rebuke from George W. Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who called such talk “unfortunate” and “unpresidential.”

3. Perry becomes a piñata at his first debate (Sept. 7, 2011)

In a strong sign that he was the GOP frontrunner, Perry was subjective to a tag team of attacks at his first debate since announcing his candidacy. The attacks at the Politico/NBC debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, particularly from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Bachmann, were so harsh that Perry called himself as “the piñata here at the party.” But he damaged himself when he described Social Security as “a Ponzi scheme”.

4. Continuing weakness as a debater (Sept. 12, 2011)

Perry’s weak debate performances continue as his poll numbers begin to sag. Bachmann, who is battling Perry for the support of social conservatives, suggested that Perry used big government to impose mandates on Texas families to benefit cronies. The Minnesota congresswoman said the governor signed an executive order for HPV vaccinations of teen girls after receiving a contribution from the vaccine manufacturer. Perry’s response is a disaster: “If you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”

5. An unexpected setback (Sept. 24, 2011)

Perry placed a distant second in a Florida Republican presidential straw poll he was widely expected to win. The shocking landslide winner was former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain with 37 percent of the vote to Perry’s 15 percent. Cain suddenly soaked up national press coverage, leaving Perry in a netherworld of former frontrunners.

6. A bizarre moment on the campaign trail (Oct. 28, 2011)

Three days after announcing his much-ballyhooed economic plan — which featured a 20 percent flat tax — Perry stepped on his own message with a bizarre speech in New Hampshire that went viral on YouTube and caused pundits to speculate publicly whether Perry was drunk or high on pain medication for his back. The governor denied taking anything stronger than water. But his unusual speech patterns and fondling of a jar of maple syrup prompted lots of cruel jokes from late-night comics.

7. Oops. (Nov. 9, 2011)

The “oops” moment crystallized GOP voters’ increasing worries about Perry and caused his campaign to implode. At a CNBC debate in Michigan, Perry forgot the third agency he had pledged to abolish as president. After naming the Commerce and Education departments, he paused for 53 seconds. “The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” Within a week, a new poll conducted for Bloomberg News showed him in fifth place with 7 percent support.

8. The organization implodes (Dec. 27, 2011)

Perry’s presidential campaign fails to submit the necessary number of signatures to win a place on the Virginia ballot, and he files suit in Virginia federal court saying the state did not have the right to keep him off the ballot. It caps off a horrible month for Perry, whose fundraising dried up after the “oops” moment, as did high-profile endorsements.

9. Iowa caucus debacle (Jan. 3, 2012)

After finishing a worse-than-predicted fifth place in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Perry surprises his own staff when he announces he’s “decided to return to Texas to assess the results” and “whether there is a path forward.” The next day he tweeted a photo of himself in running clothes and declared, “Here we come South Carolina!!!”

10. The end (Jan. 19, 2012)

Perry came to South Carolina, but the voters just didn’t respond. On Jan. 10, he won less than 1 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary — a smaller share than a Democratic challenger named Vermin Supreme. Nine days later, trailing far behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Romney in South Carolina, Perry suspended his campaign and endorsed Gingrich. Even Perry’s endorsement didn’t do much. Gingrich won South Carolina and Georgia, but Romney, whom Perry had dismissed as a “vulture capitalist,” breezed to the nomination.